Trans-Tasman Twenty20 Trophy: Australia beat England by five wickets

Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn offer terrifying familiarity with bat in hand and both looked in ominous form bludgeoning the Kiwis around Sydney last Saturday.

"We haven't had much success in T20 cricket for a while now, our rating reflects that, so it was so imperative for this young group to take us forward and win some games".

The successful chase bookended another stellar Australian bowling effort after Warner won the toss and elected to bowl on a flat Bellerive Oval pitch oozing with runs in the only global fixture this summer in Tasmania, Australia's island state. Maxwell's contribution was his second in as many matches, following a summer in which he had spent far more time outside the Australian set-up than in it. Mark Wood and Rashid were the other wicket-takers but they were beaten by the brilliance of one player. The turn extracted from the Hobart pitch also raised the question about whether Liam Dawson's slow left-arm might have been useful.

Australia had to overcome failures from batting stars Dave Warner (4), Chris Lynn (0) and Marcus Stoinis (6). Not to be outdone by the newcomer, Maxwell overcame a sluggish start by whacking consecutive sixes off spinner Adil Rashid as the pair swiftly combined for a 78-run partnership to steer Australia into the ascendancy.

Fresh from his stint with the Hobart Hurricanes, D'Arcy Short was right at home at Blundstone, belting a quick-fire 30 off 20 balls, with two fours and two enormous sixes.

However, England were able to wrestle back the advantage as early as the first over of Australia's response.

Earlier, Maxwell delivered a dagger to the men in red and blue when he set up a hat-trick attempt.

Maxwell scored 40 not out as the Aussies cruised past New Zealand in a rain-affected match at the weekend.

Jason Roy and Alex Hales are due to reclaim their positions at the head of the innings, despite David Willey smashing Ashes-winning spinner Nathan Lyon for 34 in an over when asked to deputise. But then Dawid Malan and Alex Hales attacked the bowlers and posted 60 runs in the powerplay overs. Roy's stay at the crease was brief after being deceived by a wide slower ball from Kane Richardson in the second over but runs flowed at the other end. Both the batsmen were dismissed by him and David Willey was also stumped as he picked 3 wickets for just 10 runs in his two overs. Jos Buttler punched a Stoinis slower ball to mid off, Billings presented Agar with another front edge caught and bowled when he returned to the attack, and Malan's innings was ended when he failed to clear deep square leg.

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